Early, absentee voters at half-million-plus

CARSON CITY, Nev. 
Early and absentee voters in Nevada passed the half-million mark by midday Thursday, with Democrats still maintaining a big edge over Republicans in the state's population centers of Las Vegas and Reno.

With 514,000-plus early and absentee ballots cast _ 42 percent of the 1.2 million active voters in the state _ Nevada election officials were on pace to have ballots in hand from nearly half of all active voters by the close of early balloting Friday night.

In the Las Vegas area, in Clark County, more than 360,000 early and absentee voters had cast ballots by noon Thursday. That's 44 percent of all active voters in the county, Nevada's largest. Democrats accounted for 51 percent of the ballots while Republicans had 32 percent.

In the Reno area, in Washoe County, more than 97,000 people had voted early or by absentee ballot through noon Thursday, or 42 percent of all active voters. Of the total, 46 percent were Democrats and 38 percent were Republicans.

More than 50,000 people had voted early as of late Wednesday in the state's 15 other counties. A breakdown by party affiliation and absentee figures weren't immediately available for those counties.

Secretary of State Ross Miller said the early and absentee voting is so heavy that he's increasing his earlier prediction of a record turnout of 1 million Nevadans, or 85 percent of active voters, to as high as 90 percent. That would be nearly 1.1 million voters.

Washoe County Registrar Dan Burk said it's "very feasible" that the early and absentee voting in his county will be nearly half of all balloting by the time polls close next Tuesday. He added that with so much early activity, the wait time for Election Day voters could be less than expected.

The figures provided by election officials show only party registration and not how people actually voted. But supporters of Barack Obama believe a heavy majority of the early Democrats supported their candidate over Republican John McCain. Results of the early voting will be included in the first posted returns on Election Day.

Nevada has more than 1.4 million registered voters, including the 1.2 million who are considered active _ and 87 percent of them live in Clark and Washoe counties. Statewide, there are 111,617 more Democrats than Republicans _ a major change from the 2004 elections when there slightly more GOP voters than Democrats.

Voters in every state can now cast early or absentee ballots. Nationwide, about a third of the electorate is expected to vote early this year.